The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 925: Pilgrimage

The Deep God appeared without warning and departed just as suddenly.

The reason for His departure was still unknown. Perhaps it was due to Lu Li's interference, or perhaps it was a sense of pessimism about the future.

Large, downy snowflakes dissolved into the deep, dark waves as the Andrea, having escaped the control of the warships, bobbed on the surface of the sea, drawing closer.

As it neared the pier, the Andrea lowered her bow until it was nearly level with the shore, allowing Lu Li to step onto the deck.

With a low groaning from its hull, the Andrea returned to its original position. Lu Li turned back toward Vinnelag; the falling snowflakes brought a haze and a sense of calm, while figures disturbing the silence of the port hurried in his direction.

"Follow the Deep God."

Lu Li needed to find out what had happened to Him.

The Andrea turned and, following the trail of the Deep God, sailed into the darkness.

Lu Li returned to the captain's cabin, retrieved the wooden box stored there, and summoned the Merchant. However, it wasn't Merchant Antoni who appeared, but the Merchant who had remained in Vinnelag.

The alchemical ingredients, whose name was still unknown, proved to be more effective than expected.Lu Li instructed him to deliver several eyeballs and two letters to Mayor Matteus. One was for the Inquisition, demanding they release Prusius, Ofelia, and Merchant Antoni. The other was for Matteus himself, describing the events with the Deep God, along with a warning that if Matteus were to disappear afterward, he would report it to Midnight.

Hopefully, the Inquisition wasn't so foolish as to be beyond hope.

Before they entered the still-lingering anomaly fog, Lu Li used his compass to determine the Deep God's direction—straight across the map, they would reach the World's Spine Mountains.

Is He planning to return to the other side of the mountain range?

Unfortunately, the Andrea couldn't match His speed, and the precarious pursuit they had maintained was broken the following day.

Lu Li encountered the Plunging Sea.

The seawater, its shape unchanging even in a storm, was like a whirlpool strangely and terrifyingly frozen by an invisible force, stretching downward like an ancient staircase leading to the ocean floor.

Its crushing power became fully apparent when they reached the bottom. The hundred-meter-high waves behind them were enough to make any sailor scream in madness.

After several dozen minutes of silent and oppressive sailing, an ascending watery staircase appeared ahead, allowing the Andrea to exit the Plunging Sea.

The Plunging Sea was one of the few anomalies that did not harm humans. Although plunging to the ocean floor and being surrounded by towering walls of water was unnerving, it was, in most cases, safer than other areas of the sea. Besides, it was so vast that steering around it would have added several extra hours to their journey.

Human ships usually determined whether to pass through it based on its shape—it had no fixed form, sometimes stretching out like an endless, giant wall.

After leaving the Plunging Sea, the Andrea could no longer sense the Deep God's trail and could only continue moving in His general direction.

It was worth noting that if the Deep God hadn't changed direction, Lu Li would have landed in Lynx Cove.

The place where Lu Li had first set foot in the Wastelands during the Ancient Era.

With only a few hours left before reaching the Wastelands, Lu Li contacted Midnight for help: he needed information about the World's Spine Mountains and some magical, or rather, mystical items to disguise his identity.

The alchemical ingredients developed in Vinnelag were not the best choice. They couldn't be made into thin, light clothing or armor, and they could only block power, not offer protection.

Dean Lawrence inquired with the Academy of Giant Trees on Lu Li's behalf. Professor Kris, the deputy dean of the mysticism department, agreed to help and soon provided a vial of mutation potion and a small bottle of sesame oil.

The accompanying handwritten instructions described how to use them.

The mutation potion would transform Lu Li into an anomaly in appearance. The form would be random, usually an anomaly the drinker had seen before, but with deviations, like in the dreams of a Fusion with a jumbled consciousness.

Its effect would last for three days, and if he wanted to revert sooner, he just needed to apply the sesame oil.

The side effect was contamination, but it was within acceptable limits.

Looking out from the captain's cabin, Lu Li could see the horizon of the Wastelands and the snow line of the World's Spine Mountains under the gloomy clouds in the distance.

In less than an hour, the Andrea would dock.

But just as Lu Li was preparing to take the mutation potion, the Merchant brought a message from the real Professor Kris. She claimed the first vial was a prank made by a student on their own initiative and hoped Lu Li would forgive it. She then sent along a mutation potion she had developed herself.

Compared to the student-made potion, the new one had a different effect: it didn't change the drinker's body but instead mimicked their scent—or rather, their aura.

This would allow Lu Li, as a human, to blend in with anomalies, but it would be useless against malicious ones, as it only changed his scent, not his power.

As an apology, Professor Kris didn't ask for the expensive potion back, merely informing Lu Li that it needed to be used within a month.

Putting away the first mutation potion and the sesame oil, Lu Li took the new potion and calmly waited for it to take effect.

"There may be some non-dangerous side effects, including but not limited to, dizziness, mild delirium, mushroom growth, bouts of appetite, and, uh... the urge to urinate. The better your physical and mental condition, the fewer the side effects."

Recalling Professor Kris's warning, Lu Li felt an indescribable change.

Some kind of illusion flashed for a moment, leaving an afterimage on his retina, and then Lu Li returned to normal—except that he was now slowly radiating the same aura as an anomaly.

...

The Deep God was not in good shape.

When He came ashore, He could barely control His power, leaving behind a wide, flattened path stretching from the coast into Lynx Cove.

Lynx Cove had long been abandoned, and its dilapidated, ruined buildings held no interest even for anomalies.

After observing for a while, Lu Li disembarked at the port near the Lynx Cove bridge, left the Andrea to wait, and entered the desolate, dead, abandoned town.

Lu Li followed the trail He had left and stopped just as he was about to leave the town.

The flattened path stretched out directly from his feet, heading toward the World's Spine Mountains.

The hundreds of kilometers felt like an insurmountable chasm, whether it was the dangerous wasteland or simply the daunting distance itself.

However, Lu Li had allies at the foot of the World's Spine Mountains.

As the ground trembled, a worm with terrifying spiral serrations burrowed up from below.

Lu Li entered the worm and, through the tunnel it created, traveled safely and quickly toward the Gauss Basin at the foot of the main peak.

Standing at the foot of the majestically towering World's Spine Mountains and gazing into the distance, Lu Li fixed his eyes on the depths of the clouds.

A silhouette that not even the clouds could hide cast a shadow that, from a distance, resembled a snow-capped mountain.

It was the Eye-Worm.

In the Gauss Basin, besides the two enormous creatures, there were also anomalies that had left behind filthy pits.

Lu Li quickly learned the reason from Midnight: they were devouring the blood spilled by the Deep God.

Countless anomalies had gathered here. Filled with reverence and fanaticism after consuming the Deep God's blood, they ignored everything around them as they crossed the low-lying Gauss Basin and, like pilgrims, began to ascend the cold, steep, impassable slopes of the World's Spine Mountains.

The Deep God was there.